‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not …. believe to be beautiful’

Where ever possible I try and stick to this part of the famous William Morris quote.
I did not love my current slippers. They were functional leather moccasins with a nice pink/ purple cord but unfortunately had rather been scrimped on leather and so had worn away from the cord. Hence I needed new slippers.

Having looked at about 100 pairs online I did not see one pair that I liked. So more thinking needed. My favourite slippers of all time were the felt pair that I made in 2005, Monet inspired and a real delight. Image on my website! I have worn them up and as I am in the middle of a felt hat period - workshop etc I am not taking on another felting project.

Then I remembered that my friend Sally Williams has Icelandic wool to knit slippers and then felt in the washing machine. So I now have the most gorgeous comfortable warm pair of slippers. I enjoyed knitting them and added matching leather soles (as I did the Monet slippers previously). I am delighted with them.

 

Sally keeps a pedigree flock of Icelandic sheep in the Peak District and uses their natural coloured yarn and her own plant dyed yarn to produce a range of knitted and felted woollen products including bags, fingerless gloves, snoods. She also has yarn, fleece & kits; well worth a look at www.dewsnapswoollens.co.uk

A creative month of January

January is just finished and what a creative month it has been due mainly to hibernating thanks to the weather- either heavy rain or snow.
The result being I have nine completed projects.

I am trying to follow my ‘philosophy’. The image shows this displayed in my studio above my ‘demonstration’ clothes! On top of this I am using natural fibres wherever I can; trying to use fibres and fabrics from my store ; using my design and making skills and only ending up with things that I really love and are special.

 

(It says retain, reduce, recycle, repair, repurpose, remodel, refit)

So the completed list goes:
Lace collar- hand knit in wool with cochineal naturally dyed yarns

Camisoles*- own design then machine knitted, three completed

Virtually new Oxford (cotton) shirt re purposed into pyjama jacket

My 'house' favourite cotton cardigan saved from landfill by a cunning repair

Slippers knitted (Icelandic wool) then felted - kit from a friend

Cream fine merino wool machine knit jumper - again to my own design & block

Fine lace cowl*- machine knit

The asterisked (*) ones are in synthetic materials – reasons explained later

The tenth project won't be completed until this month. It is a felt cloche hat that I need to work with in a workshop I am teaching. Let's hope for no snow this time so we're not disappointed again.

I will be summarising these projects in the following posts in an attempt to inspire you to pick up your needles and have a wardrobe you enjoy.

Construction of the red fine knit cardigan

Knit all 5 pieces
Steam each to final shape and size - this is very time consuming! It fits another of my working 'rules' - spend as long on pressing as on stitching. It is the attention to details like this that give the professional couture finish that I am aiming for.
sleeve as knitted

sleeve pinned

This is what the sleeve looks like once it has been steamed! Finally I stitch the pieces together using a sewing machine (Janome)